Durham railway station

Durham
Location
Place	Durham
Local authority	Durham
Coordinates	54.7798°N 1.5815°W / 54.7798; -1.5815
Grid reference	NZ269428
Operations
Station code	DHM
Managed by	East Coast
Owned by	Network Rail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	1.650 million
2005/06	1.740 million
2006/07	1.774 million
2007/08	1.858 million
2008/09	1.996 million
2009/10	2.051 million
2010/11	2.180 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Durham from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Local train from Newcastle in 1953

Durham railway station serves the city of Durham, England on the East Coast Main Line. The railway station is managed by East Coast. Despite its small functional capacity the station is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line and is called at by many intercity services travelling the route.

The travel time between Durham and London King's Cross, 254 miles (409 km) south, is around three hours on a high-speed East Coast service.

Description

Durham is a through station with two platforms and is located on a hill to the north of the city centre. To the south of the station, the railway line is elevated on a viaduct. After the 2006–2008 renovation, the booking hall is now located in the original stone station building.

History

Originally, Durham was served by three stations but none of these survive today:

• Gilesgate: the only station located in the city, it served the Leamside Line, then the main line from London to Newcastle. Passenger services finished in 1857 but the Leamside line carried passenger services until 1963. Today it has been redeveloped as a Travelodge hotel, while the serving track was used in the realignment of the A690 road Gilesgate bypass
• Shincliffe Town: located in nearby Shincliffe, it served the Durham Sunderland Line which was built in 1839. A second station, Shincliffe , was opened in 1844. It closed in the 1950s
• Durham Elvet: in 1893, the Durham-Sunderland branch was extended to Elvet. Shincliffe Town declined in importance, and eventually closed in the late 1950s

In 1857, a station on the current location and a viaduct over the River Browney immediately to the south were built by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, as a terminus for their Durham to Bishop Auckland Line from Bishop Auckland. The station was redeveloped in 1871, when the North Eastern Railway developed a new line from Tursdale through Durham, and onwards north to Newcastle Central via Chester-le-Street. This soon became the main line, the current East Coast Main Line.

On grouping in 1923, the station came under the control of the London and North Eastern Railway. Passenger services to Bishop Auckland and Sunderland via Penshaw were withdrawn by British Railways under the Beeching Axe on 4 May 1964.

The East Coast Main Line through Durham was electrified in 1991.

2006–2008 refurbishment

Today, the station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Coast. The station was refurbished between 2006 and 2008 by operator GNER and later National Express which included a new lounge, toilets, travel centre, glazed waiting area, lifts and shops. The entrance and booking hall were moved from the 'temporary' 1960s building into the original stone building following renovation and repairs. The renovations were completed in early 2008 and the newly renovated station won Best Medium Station and Overall Station of the Year at the 2008 National Rail Awards. Ticket barriers were installed in September 2009.

Services

Direction	East Coast	CrossCountry	First TransPennine Express	Northern Rail
Northbound	1tph to Newcastle, with some continuing to Edinburgh	1tph to Newcastle 1tph to Edinburgh	1tph to Newcastle	3tpd to Newcastle in the early morning 2tpd on Saturday
Southbound	1tph to London Kings Cross	1tph to Reading via Doncaster 1tph to Plymouth via Leeds	1tph to Manchester Airport	1tpd to Middlesbrough in the late evening on Saturday and Sunday

tph = trains per hour   tpd = trains per day

Gallery

• 

  The Durham Viaduct

• 

  The northbound platform as seen from a train

• 

  Middle of the station, showing departures board

• 

  A HST departing for Newcastle

External links

• Train times and station information for Durham railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Darlington		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Chester-le-Street
Darlington		First TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Chester-le-Street
Darlington		Northern Rail Tees Valley Line		Chester-le-Street
Darlington		East Coast East Coast Main Line		Newcastle
	Disused railways
Croxdale		London and North Eastern Railway Leamside Line		Leamside
Terminus		London and North Eastern Railway Durham to Bishop Auckland Line		Brandon Colliery
Terminus		London and North Eastern Railway Deerness Valley Railway		Ushaw Moor